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Monday, 30 November 2015

And Relax...

As we get older, it appears that time speeds up. I seem to start every Christmas letter (and yes, I do write one of those dreaded things, but it only goes to a few friends that I know want to catch up on the details of our lives) with the words: where has the year gone?

Well today I am saying instead: where has the month gone? Four weeks ago, I posted about taking part in this year's NaNoWriMo. Fifty thousand words to write, thirty days in which to do it - plenty of time!

Well, the first week went well; I even ended a few hundred words ahead of target. I was on schedule to finish by 27th November. (I think I mentioned that the NaNo site has a wonderful array of charts and statistics for the more mathematically-minded nerds among us.)

But then real life got in the way. I lost nearly a week laying out and publishing this month's Chudleigh Phoenix. I got side-tracked by the brochure for our Christmas Fayre. I slipped back on the chart and at one point was not due to finish until 7th December.

However, I am delighted to report that the last few days have been much more productive. I cleared my diary every morning and just wrote. Yesterday morning I had 4,500 words to write - and by midday, I was done! I haven't written a full novel; I didn't intend to do that. But I have filled plot holes in my current WIP, the first in series of three thrillers. I have written lots of character studies, plus story lines for the other two books in the series and have drafted out the first five chapters of book two.

It's not a traditional approach to NaNoWriMo, but it works for me. Huge congratulations to everyone who took part this year: to the 'winners' who have crossed the finish line already; to those who will do so today; and to those who, even if they didn't make it to 50K words, have done more writing in a month than they would otherwise have managed.

And now to relax - for at least one day - before the Christmas season kicks in, coupled with editing book one.

2 comments:

Congratulations on winning, however you did it. Does anyone still do NaNoWriMo the traditional way? I supposed re-writing a first draft, like I did, is more traditional. But the key thing is getting words down - if possible good ones.

Absolutely right, Roland. Several people have asked me questions along the lines of "is it okay to...". My response is always: it is YOU challenging yourself. It is okay to do it however you want to. E x